“What I am now was derived from things like that puppet onstage. In many ways, we’re alike; the same. Controlled by others in a world where all you want is to be free.” (Kindle Locations 1121-1122).

Puppet is a twisted retelling of Pinocchio, where Penelope is a real girl with real problems who is recruited (somewhat forced to volunteer) to be an experiment by her new adoptee father Jed. He has created an advanced technology that allows Pen to be stronger, faster, and more like a puppet than ever…. Her abilities make her a liability and so she must be curbed, but Jed doesn’t have that technology yet and what he has to do to make it so she is free takes away all the freedoms she thought she wanted.

This shorter novel contained many similarities to the Mechanical Trilogy by the same author, Pauline C. Harris, as if this shorter version is the inspiration for the trilogy. There were similar themes, events, and characters between Puppet and the Mechanical Trilogy. At one point, someone throws something fast and without warning at Pen’s head and she is able to catch it with her newfound abilities, just like in both stories.

I thought it was really clever some of the integrations of Pinocchio with this modern sci fi retelling of the tale. The smooth inclusion of taking away Pen’s ability to lie was quite interesting. I could clearly see the imagination of the author at work.

The appearance of a carnival in the middle of the woods is random and seems unrelated to the plot.

There was a lack of clarity and definition for the science or technology or the more general description of a world with this type of technology.

The version I read, downloaded for kindle from Amazon contained very little proper ebook formatting. The book was simple, though, and flowed enough where the lack of spacing and justifying didn’t actually detract from the speed and ease of reading, just detracted from the maturity and responsibility of the publisher and the author.

This novel was published by Patchwork Press October 17th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.